Trafford

Tuesday, 23rd January

A small, lively protest met outside Trafford Town Hall to lobby members of the Health Scrutiny Committee. Unison Trafford, Greater Manchester KONP and People’s Assembly supporters, alongside Trafford residents. …All part of the NHS in Crisis: Fix it Now! campaign, in the build-up to the national demonstration on Feb 3rd.(Coaches for the demo on 3rd leave Chorlton Bus Station at 7pm. for tickets contact 07972120451)

NHS crisis protests demand “Fix it now” Come and protest in Trafford!

Date: Tuesday, 23rd January, 6.00 pm,

Venue: the Health Scrutiny Committee,
Location: Trafford Town Hall, Talbot Road Stretford M32 0TH?
Protesters around Greater Manchester are organising a series of demonstrations, culminating in the national NHS FIX IT NOW! demonstration in London on February 3rd.

Greater Manchester residents have been left to face this winter with an inadequate NHS, which some of its senior practitioners have warned us, is a dangerous service to use. We know that the welcomed decline in mortality rates in Greater Manchester, between 2001 and 2010, has now been reversed (significantly because of a lack of nurses.)

Long term public service recruitment and incomes policies have left our local hospitals and clinics seriously understaffed, with desperately tired staff trying to cover for vacant posts. GPs and primary care staff are severely overstretched, not being able to keep up with their increasing responsibilities for the health of residents, whilst receiving inadequate funding to do so.

The privatisation of social care has left our elderly population, who need residential support and home care, to the vagaries of the market: many private care homes have been deemed inadequate or in need of improvement, whilst others are closing their doors to those in need. Yet 3.5% of hospital beds in Greater Manchester are needed by people who cannot receive adequate personal care at home.

And now all the thousands of people who were waiting for their operations in early 2018, often in great pain and distress, have been told that they will have to wait even longer. The NHS is not there for them in their time of need-surely a denial of the basic principle of NHS!
This crisis is not the result of a sudden epidemic: it is the result of year on year decisions, to cut the number of hospital beds in the Greater Manchester; to restrict training for nurses, particularly community nursing posts and to make the NHS absorb inflationary pressure – especially from PFI scheme payments for all the new buildings in primary and secondary health care.

We ask our Councillors, members of the Health Scrutiny Committee..what are you and your Committee going to do about it?
Will you

make public the cost of the crisis to Trafford residents – in delayed health and social care?

publicly call on the government to end the winter crisis with a cash injection to restore the NHS budget ?

support the call on the government to end the cap on NHS pay now?

Come and join our protest at Trafford Health Scrutiny Committee…6.00pm
Stretford Town Hall. Tell the members of the Committee what you think they should do about the crisis in health and social care in Trafford. Ask them to join the protest…not be part of the problem!

Now plans for health and social care are being taken together, under an (at present) unelected Mayor of Greater Manchester.

At the same time, the NHS in England has been forced to cut a further £2.3billion by the end of this financial year, to make up for its “over-spend” in the past 2 years.

What will be the effect on services in Trafford?

Will there be further cuts and privatisations of health care, along with social/home care?

Will there be more sell-offs of NHS buildings (like Stretford Memorial)?

How can we support the junior doctors, still protesting their contracts?

How can we alert local people to the threats to their NHS?

There will be many opportunities, in the coming months, to publicise and campaign about what is happening in NHS. If you want to be part of the it…please come to our